Mass merchandisers such as grocery chains, drug chains, discount department stores, and the like make extensive use of merchandise display shelving in which shelves are provided along their front edges with ticket moldings or data strips for displaying pricing and other information related to the displayed merchandise. In many modern installations, plastic strips are used in preference to extruded metal ticket moldings. In some instances, the plastic strips are constructed to be mounted within existing metal ticket moldings. In other cases, the strips are mounted directly to the front edge of the shelving.
One commonly used form of plastic data strip is comprised of a continuous extruded section of plastic material provided with a clear plastic front panel joined along its bottom edge to a back panel structure. The back panel structure may comprise a single panel, which is secured to the front edge of the shelving, or it may include an additional panel configured to be snapped into the front of a conventional metal ticket molding, for example. In either case, the clear front panel and the back panel structure form a continuous, upwardly opening label-receiving pocket for receiving pricing and information labels and the like.
It is a customary practice of stores of the type mentioned above to emphasize certain items in their displays, from time to time, such as new items, items that are featured on special sale, etc. Where conventional metal ticket moldings are employed, such special tags frequently are installed using plastic clips, which are inserted into the ticket molding, and provide a prominent display for the special tag. Where plastic data strips are utilized for the main pricing information, the special tags frequently are printed on thin, heat-bent plastic elements designed to be installed behind the clear front panel of the data strip. The special information can be printed on the plastic element, or on a paper tag which is enveloped within the special plastic element. In any case, these special plastic clips or elements involve undesirable added expense. While in some cases, they may be reused, they usually are thrown away after one or two uses. Moreover, the handling and storage of such reusable items is both an expense and an annoyance.
In the related case referred to above, a plastic data strip is provided along its upper front edge with a continuous, downwardly projecting overlay panel, joined integrally with the upper edge of the front panel, which forms a downwardly opening tag-receiving pocket along the uppermost edge margin of the front panel. The overlay panel is configured to converge with the surface of the front panel, to form a narrow throat, and thereafter to project forwardly to form a downwardly divergent entry. The overlay panel enables a thin, inexpensive and disposable printed paper tag to be inserted anywhere along the entire length of the data strip, by inserting an upper edge portion of the paper tag underneath the overlay panel. When the special tag has served its purpose, it can simply be removed and discarded. The device of the related application advantageously is formed with a narrow bead of co-extruded soft plastic material along the narrow throat portion of the overlay panel to improve the gripping action of the tag-receiving pocket on a light paper tag inserted therein, without unduly resisting insertion of the tag during installation.
Because the special tag to be inserted under the overlay panel typically is thin and flimsy, it is important that the overlay accommodate easy upward insertion of the tag while at the same time providing reliable retention of the tag by gripping its upper edge margin. These are somewhat mutually inconsistent requirements, in that the optimum arrangement requires a somewhat easier insertion of the tag than its removal. To accommodate this optimum performance desire, the display strip of the present invention incorporates an overlay panel construction in which the tag-holding clip includes a thin, highly flexible co-extruded tongue-like element of soft material which flexes easily to allow upward entry of the tag. At the same time, this flexible element effectively resists downward movement of the tag, unless intentional force is applied. In this respect, the soft, flexible tongue-like element advantageously is oriented to be inclined slightly upward, such that it is easily flexed upwardly for insertion of a thin paper tag. Downward movement of the tag, however, is resisted more strongly, as the flexible tongue-like element is displaced slightly downward, to extend more directly across the throat of the tag-holding clip and thus exert more retention force on the tag.
While the principal plastic data strip is extruded of a relatively hard plastic material, such as rigid polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the co-extruded tongue-like element is formed of a considerably softer material, typically a compatible soft PVC material. While co-extrusion of such materials, as a general proposition, is widely practiced, the display strip of the present invention presents a particularly difficult problem in the manufacture, because of the relatively tiny dimensions of the co-extruded tongue-like element.
In accordance with the invention, the co-extrusion process is in effect carried out in two stages. The primary strip, formed of so-called rigid PVC or other plastic material, is formed by extruding molten plastic material through an extrusion die of appropriate configuration, in a generally known manner, emerging from the extrusion die without the intended co-extruded tongue-like element. A second and separate extrusion die is placed on or immediately adjacent to the front face of the primary die and is positioned to be partly enveloped by the upper margin of the front panel of the display strip, on one side, and by the short clip-forming overlay panel, on the other side. Significantly, as the primary display strip emerges from its extrusion nozzle, the tag-holding clip portion thereof has a substantially wide-open configuration, allowing an upper portion of the second extrusion nozzle to be easily received within the downwardly opening recess formed along the upper edge of the display strip. At this juncture, the plastic material forming the principal part of the display strip is still in the form of a highly viscous, semi-liquid material. Immediately as this semi-liquid material emerges from its extrusion nozzle, it is joined by the flow of softer plastic co-extrusion material emerging from the second nozzle, so that the two materials are joined in a co-extrusion in a manner that enables the small, delicate tongue-like element to retain its desired shape and effectively prevents from being overwhelmed and deformed by the heavier section of the primary extrusion. Immediately following the second extrusion step, the co-extruded shape separates from the second extrusion die and is drawn under slight tension into a so-called calibrating die, which reshapes the strip into its desired, final cross-sectional configuration. While the material is traveling to and through the calibrating die, it is still extremely soft and pliable, and easily conforms to the desired final shape, including a closing of the tag-holding clip portion to its final configuration, with a narrow entrance throat closed by the co-extruded soft plastic tongue-like element. Typically, as the extruded section emerges from the downstream side of the calibrating die, it is immediately immersed in a cooling liquid to harden the plastic and permanently fix the final shape of the strip. The finished strip is then cut into suitable lengths, (typically four feet) for installation on standard store shelving.
The process of the invention enables truly unique and advantageous label display of product to be produced on a controlled, high production basis.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, and to the accompanying drawings.